Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Jack London’s Call of the Wild showed me a side of adventure I never knew I had. I really liked the book because of themes and writing styles represented.

One of the themes is eat or be eaten.The main character Buck is a monstrous dog that got taken from his cozy home in California and was used as a sled dog. He soon learned that the Klondike was a harsh environment and he had to look out for himself. Dogs would regularly fight to the death, hence eat or be eaten.

Jack London used a very vivid style in this book. He shows the story not tells it. He makes it very easy to see and hear as if you were actually in the 1900’s Klondike gold rush. In many of the action scenes he has a very brutal form of writing but it is also extremely realistic.

Another theme is taking a stand. Buck takes stands in many instances that are life and death. He fought a dog to the death, wolves and even a group of natives that had bows and arrows. He inspired me to also take stands because he took stands in deadly situations so I decided I could stand up to the everyday challenges.

Call of the Wild is an early 1900’s book but I was a really simple read. I really enjoyed reading it because it was a nice change from reading about humans all the time.

In Sophocles Antigone many different themes are represented. The strength to take stands against curses and rulers.

Losing her brothers in battle, Antigone must decide whether to take a stand against the ruler, King Creon, who would not allow her to bury her brothers or not allow her brothers to pass to the afterlife.

Taking major stands can have detrimental tolls both physically and mentally. Some are minute some are huge. Even though Antigone was faced with death she did not even have a second thought about burying her brothers and saving their afterlives.

Many say Antigone is much like Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet because of the ruined relationships from suicides and murders. I agree though I think Shakespeare modeled Romeo and Juliet after Antigone because Sophocles was a much earlier writer.

Antigone was a very hard read for me because of the time period it was written in but the message still came through clear.